BOOKS FOR RAISING smart black CHILDREN

According to some mothers, it’s never too early to start reading to your children.  And many mothers I’ve known even started reading to them while in the womb.  There are studies that show the newborn does pick up on the energy of the mother.  It is why some African American households have old wise sayings about pregnant women and how they should make sure to be mindful about getting upset or getting surprised.  This curated list of books is so special because it is specifically targeted to the STEM subjects Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.  

Book List To Raise Smart Black Children

1. Astronaut Annie Slade, Suzanne ; Tadgell, Nicole
2. Mae Jemison (Little People, Big Dreams)
3. Astronaut Training Cruz, Aneta ; Aserr, Olivia
4. Blast Off Cain, Linda C ; Rosenbaum, Susan ; Dillon, Diane ; Dillon, Leo​
5. Brilliant Baby Explores Science Gehl, Laura ; Claude, Jean
6. Brilliant Baby Plays Music Gehl, Laura ; Claude, Jean
7. Brilliant Brown Babies Williams, Desiree
8. A Computer Called Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Helped Put America on the Moon Slade, Suzanne ; Miller Jamison, Veronica
9. Counting the Stars: The Story of Katherine Johnson, NASA Mathematician Cline-Ransome, Lesa ; Colón, Raúl
10. Dark Was the Night: Blind Willie Johnson's Journey to the Stars Golio, Gary ; Lewis, E B
11. I Love Space: Explore with Sliders, Lift-The-Flaps, a Wheel, and More! Wortche, Allison ; Mack, Steve
12. I'm Brown and I'm Smart Berry-Pettus, Sherrita ; Immis, Johanne
13. Mae Jemison: A 4D Book Boone, Mary
14. Mae Jemison: Ready-To-Read Level 3 Calkhoven, Laurie ; Dong, Monique
15. My Rainy Day Rocket Ship Sheppard, Markette ; Palmer, Charly
16. Path to the Stars: My Journey from Girl Scout to Rocket Scientist Acevedo, Sylvia
17. Poems for the Smart, Spunky, and Sensational Black Girl Miller, Sharee ; Garlinghouse, Rachel

My earliest recollection of books I read as a child are Thumbelina, Ferdinand, and Mother Goose.  I can’t even imagine what I may've become if I'd been exposed to some of the books on this list.  While I am a bookseller now, my college raining was in Electrical Engineering.  I have a Bachelor's and Master's degrees.  My background includes switching from classical music training to Engineering.  It was a tough change, I must admit.  If I had early exposure early on, it is likely I wouldn’t have had such a challenging time grasping some of the concepts.  

Now that i can reflect on the topics like the logic of computer programming, I can easily see how this could be broken down to a child.  Logic is either on or off, “1” or “0”. To start a child out with these basics, seems a natural way to introduce this topic. In fact, it seems better suited for a child when it occurs before all of the other thousands of options are known.

According to “The Benefits of reading to Your Baby While in the Womb,”  there are physiological benefits to reading to a baby while in the womb.   Megan McCoy Dellecese of Green Child Magazine says the heart rate of the child stabilizes, and bonding starts taking place. Starting as early as 6 weeks into the pregnancy, Dellecese says the child begins to recognize the sound of the mother’s voice which has a soothing effect. The parents learn at the same time when the child starts asking questions.  

In this video, “TEACH YOUR BABY TO READ | Learning to read from 0 to 3 years old | Teach Your Child to Read At Home,” it was delightful to witness a mother and blogger Brittnany Kelly teaching her toddler from weeks old to 2 years old.  She gives evidence that it is indeed possible to begin the process of teaching the child how to read even as newborns.  When you add to the offering books that are culturally reflective of their experience, this adds identifiers that go along way.  I talked about this in other blog articles called, “AFRICAN PRINCESS  Children’s Books “ 

​I can’t even imagine being exposed to astronomy at such an early age, but Black children today can enjoy seeing their reflection in at least 5 books about space on this list.  When Mae Jemison was the first African American female to blast off into space in 1992, she shattered the glass ceiling literally and figuratively.  When a child is exposed to the vastness of space at an early age, the bar is already set high, and they will instinctively push it higher.  I’ve also included a book with poetry called, “Poems for the Smart, Spunky, and Sensational Black Girl.” 

Where to Begin

I'd recommend the books, "Astronaut Annie" and "Blast Off," for the male and female brilliant babies in training.  The illustrations will captivate and stimulate them to potentially start asking questions and show an interest.

Final Thoughts

​As always, I appreciate that you have read through this blog post.  I hope that you’ve become curious to read more books about raising smart Black children.  We ask that you consider purchasing your books from our Black owned bookstore, Afriware Books, Co.  If there is a title you’d like to purchase that is not mentioned here, or could not be found on the website, feel free to email us at:  afriwarebooks@afriwarebooks.com